Patients diagnosed with coronary heart disease (CHD) have a lower cognitive performance, a new study suggests.

Research published in the European Heart Journal found that an individual's mental processes, such as reasoning, vocabulary and verbal fluency, can be impaired by the presence of heart disease.

The study found that among both men and women a history of CHD could be linked to lower scores for reasoning, vocabulary and their global cognitive status (MMSE), when compared to people who had no CHD history.

Lead researcher Dr Archana Singh-Manoux commented: "It is important to elucidate the link between these two diseases.

"Our core hypothesis is that the identification of the risk factors for dementia needs to focus on the determinants of cognitive ageing in midlife and early old age."

He explained: "Our results on the link between CHD and cognition underline the importance of these preventive measures by highlighting the impact of these risk factors not only on CHD but also on people's cognitive functioning."

As the prevalence of dementia rises with age, more than a third of people older than 80 are likely to have the condition, while CHD remains the leading cause of death in many western countries.

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